Beauty and the Beast
by Burning Ice Phoenix
Summary: Beauty and the Beast: A Tale of a Trouble-Making Beauty and a Beast in need of Anger Management. Considered a danger to the city, the government recruits Celty to help stop Shizuo. In a magic spell gone wrong, Shizuo now has five years to find true love.
1. A Beast with Anger Management Problems

**ONE: A Beast with Anger Management Problems  
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The vending machine was wrenched off of the ground and lifted high into the air. On the ground, a man was whimpering since his legs gave out on him and was trying to crawl to safety. "Where the hell is the money?" the man with the super human strength yelled as the vending machine was sent flying across the air. The man scrambled furiously and just as he expected several broken bones, the vending machine landed inches before him.

"Tomorrow," he whimpered.

"Say that again, I can't hear you."

"T-Tomorrow, Shizuo-san, Tom-san! All of the money, I'll get it to you by t-tomorrow!" He braced himself as Shizuo, the man throwing the vending machine, stepped forward. He picked the man up by the back collar of his jacket and shook him.

"That's a promise, right? Otherwise, you're not even going to get to choose which organs you're selling," Shizuo dropped the man to the ground and he flailed a bit before finding strength in his legs again to run away whimpering and yelling thanks.

"Shizuo, was that really necessary?" the other man, Tom, asked as he walked up to Shizuo.

Shizuo didn't answer and took out a cigarette box. He lit one before he answered, "He pissed me off with all that whimpering!"

Tom sighed, "But, didn't what you just do make him whimper even more?" Tom stopped talking when he saw that Shizuo had bit down hard on the end of the cancer stick that was in his mouth. Shizuo turned around, signaling that it was a subject he didn't want to tread on to. Tom sighed again before following his companion, "You really should do something about that temper of yours," he mumbled, "One day, it'll get you into a hell lot more trouble."

Little did Tom and Shizuo know, that day was today.

One of the higher ranked officers, Kyohei Kadota, looked at the vending machine that used to be bolted to the ground. Now, it laid dented on the ground. He could see very clearly the places where Shizuo had gripped the metal since there were two nice hand shaped figures there. The glass had fractured from when it hit the ground.

"It's bent here," one of the officers reported, "And the glass is cracked. If we try to stand it upright again, it'll just topple over and hurt someone."

"I know that, Officer Yumasaki. I have eyes and a brain," Kadota said and ran a hand through his hair.

Officer Walker Yumasaki shrugged and gave a fox like grin, "I'm just doing my job, sir!"

Kadota rubbed his temples. Why did he get stuck baby-sitting the rookies? Of course, they were all roughly the same age, but there have been some new recruits recently and they were a bit…odd, for a lack of a better word.

A girl swung herself into Kadota's vision, surprising him so that he took a step back, "At least he didn't damage the sidewalk this time, right, Dotachin?"

"W-What? What did you just call me? No, just don't call me that," his cheeks tinted slight pink at the memory of the nickname. _That person must've stopped by, then_, he thought as he pressed his lips into a thin line, _he hasn't been here a while. I hope he won't be causing any trouble._

The girl giggled, also in an officer's uniform, "Hey, hey, Walker, maybe there are some savable parts in the machine?"

"Yea, there probably are," Walker agreed, "We should go find Togusa to help us open this up to check inside, Erica."

"Sure," the girl responded with a grin of her own. Erica waited until Walker stood up beside her and they started walking back outside of the area lined with yellow tape.

Kadota sighed again. How did he get stuck in such an unfavorable position? It was like they promoted him just so they can push this headache on to him. His first task upon receiving the promotion was to list and record all damage done to the city. Well, it would usually be an uneventful task, but when one of the citizens was Shizuo Heiwajima, that changes many things. This job was effectively one of the worse things bestowed upon a government worker. The first day alone Kadota had to see many inexplicable things and damage that made him wish he worked in another city, or at least another department.

Once, he even got to the scene right as Shizuo pulled a sign post, cement still stuck to the bottom half of the rod, and swung it at some punks who made the mistake of trying to pick a fight with the strongest man in the neighborhood. The officers who were around that had come to the crime to "stop a fight" had run off at that sight. Kadota was the only one who managed to stand his ground. He even attempted to do his job and calm the raging man down. That didn't work, of course, and Kadota got a three month stay in the hospital instead. Surprisingly, Shizuo came to visit and apologize several times. And the several times he did, he always broke something, be it a vase, a table, the counter, or the nurse's arm, it was inevitable.

The two of them became something similar to friends, but there was one topic that Kadota knew never to touch. His problem with his anger. Kadota never heard the full story of it and any time it was brought up, Shizuo would snap. Later, Shizuo admitted briefly that he hated snapping so easily and doing things that would scare others, but he can't stop himself.

Still, it didn't change that the damage Shizuo made in the city was a constant headache for him. Shizuo will continue to destroy the city from the inside out and Kadota will have to continue recording every piece of damage made to the city. Kadota sighed. Not to mention the moment he got out of the hospital, they assigned him with another annoying assignment. They had told him they'll be two extra pair of hands to help him and his driver, Saburo Togusa, out in following Shizuo around.

Goddamit, why don't he quit already?

The sound of sirens broke Kadota's thoughts as he glanced over to the yellow tape to see more police cars arriving. That's strange. This was simply some statistical data they were gathering. It's not like they needed reinforcements.

"What's the matter?" Kadota called as he walked over to where the three of them were standing and ducked under the tape to join them. A motorcycle weaved it's way between the cars until it came to a stop before them.

"Officer Kyohei Kadota?" he asked.

"Uh, yes. That's me. And you are?"

"Kuzuhara," he responded, "I'm here to tell you that you don't need to record any more damage."

There was a collective sound of surprise from the whole group. Wide eyed, Kadota asked, "Why? Did something happen?"

The man nodded, "Yea, the government decided to send me in to stop Shizuo Heiwajima."

"Wait, what? We all know perfectly well that man doesn't simply get stopped."

"That's why we brought some help. I don't like him very much, but…The government asked me to cooperate."

There was the sound of shoes on pavement and the group turned around. A black motorcycle next to a person dressed completely in black. They didn't even hear the bike's approach. Only when the rider had stepped off did they notice his presence. The rider held his hand up and did a little wave.

"…The Black Rider?" Togusa blinked in surprise, "You got the black rider to help you?"

"I don't know his motives, but he agreed to help out." The rider approached them and held up a PDA.

_Please call me Celty_, was typed on the screen.

"Celty?" Erica said with a grin, "Sounds foreign. And kinda girly."

Celty flinched, as if surprised by Erica's statement, _uh, that is…_ He seemed to have given up thinking of a proper statement and just left it as an unfinished sentence.

"That's enough, Officer Karisawa," Kadota warned, "Don't be rude." He turned to look at the Black Rider. He could see nothing beyond the yellow helmet, "And how do you plan on stopping Shizuo? He doesn't really stop."

Celty's shoulders moved in a way that Kadota assumed he was smiling underneath the helmet. His fingers tapped lightly on the phone screen and when it was turned to them, it read, _with a little magic_.

He turned around and walked back to his black motorcycle. To the group's surprise, the bike made no sound as it sped off. Kuzuhara and the police cars followed. For a moment, the four of them stood there, somewhat dumbfounded by the change of events.

"That's pretty impressive, getting so close and personal with the infamous Black Rider," Walker finally broke the silence, "You think the rumors about her being headless are really true?"

"True or not, I heard he's pretty strong too."

"Eh? You just called the Black Rider a 'her'?" Erica piped up.

"Huh? Even you said so, right? Her name's girly. She's a girl, isn't she?" Walker said with a perfectly calm look on his face. The other three of the group laughed.

"No way! Such a tough girl!"

"Well, you're pretty tough yourself, Erica."

Erica grinned, "Nah, I'm just someone who loves anime, manga, novels, and adventure." But everyone already knew full well just how insane she can be inside. Erica and Walker might be new recruits, but they have already become infamous in the department for being able to get witnesses to talk. (Although, their conventions for doing so might be illegal…but those are behind closed doors guarded by Kadota and Togusa.

"But, now that you mention it. I think…the Black Rider could be a girl."

"It doesn't matter what you think about the gender of him or her. We still have to get this cleaned up so no stupid punks will come over and try to break it further," Kadota said as he ducked back under the tape. They weren't off duty yet.

* * *

><p>"Well, it's about time that we call it a day," Tom said as Shizuo took a seat on a park bench, "Have a good evening, Shizuo."<p>

Shizuo nodded, "Thanks, you too." He leaned back against the bench and Tom walked away. Shizuo looked up at the sky. The sun was setting and the orange and red rays it painted on the sky looked peaceful. _Ahh_, it was nice to feel happy rather than angry. He could nearly hope that this feeling would last forever.

But as always, it ends quickly.

The sound of tires screeching on cement brought Shizuo back to reality. Looking forward again, he saw lots of police cars and a guy on a motorcycle. "Huh? I didn't break any laws."

"You're a danger to this city," Kuzuhara said as multiple police officers stepped out of their cars.

Shizuo currently had nothing to snap in his hands, but his anger was reaching that berserk point. "You just randomly declare me a danger to this city and come to arrest me? Who the hell gave you that right? In fact, how did you find me?"

"You destroy government property and start fights on a weekly basis, you really want to ask that? Anyways, I'll do the questioning here. Please don't fight back—"

"To hell with that!" With that statement, the policemen raised and pointed guns at Shizuo. Like that would stop him. It was fine, though, because it was just a distraction.

Immediately, Shizuo charged forward, only to notice that the shadows on the ground bent strangely and the moment he hesitated, it wrapped around him, restraining him. After a moment of struggling, he turned his head to the side, just seeing Celty in his line of vision. "Celty?" there was shock in his voice. Was his friend betraying him?

Celty left her bike's side and typed a message in her PDA. She then walked over and held it up for Shizuo to read. _I'm sorry, Shizuo, but this is for your own good! I've recently been able to remember some things about my past life. One of them was a spell that can suppress your strength. …And I thought, you'd be happy with that, right? You told me your strength has been a problem for you. So I agree to help them._

It was a rather long message and Shizuo took his time reading and rereading the message. But, his mind was actually more stuck on the fact that _Celty_ betrayed him. He had thought of Celty as a close friend, in a way, they were both monsters.

Hearing nothing from Shizuo, she took that as an ok to continue and erased the message, replacing it with, _just relax._

The shadows began gathering around Shizuo and started swallowing him whole, "Wait—" The shadows turned into a giant ball, trapping the strongest man in the city in it. From the sidelines, the police held their weapons, but they were beginning to see just what sort of supernatural things existed in this world. Even Kuzuhara had no words for it.

Celty walked over to Kuzuhara with her PDA, _it should be fine now_.

No sooner had she said that, a clawed hand made its way out of the ball and Celty turned around in shock.

"What's going on?" Kuzuhara demanded.

Celty typed as fast as she could, _I don't know! Something must have went wrong with the spell!_ Celty pocketed the PDA and ran back over to the breaking ball. Her gestures showed that she was truly confused and somewhat scared. What had she done to her friend?

The ball finally broke open and what stood there gave everyone chills. A hairy beast. Claws and fangs. At least six feet tall. Wolf-like. Bear-like. A pair of horns on the top of his head.

Everyone wanted to run, but their feet were glued to the ground.

Shizuo felt a blinding rage take over him, but once he looked down at his hands, he was filled with shock. From what Celty had said, the spell was supposed to suppress his power. This…this didn't look like a suppression of power. "C-Celty—" he paused. His voice. It sounded so awful. A cross between tormented and angry—that barely made sense, but that's what it sounded like, "What…What did you do to me?"

The PDA was whipped out again and Shizuo saw her fingers moving in an extremely fast pace. The PDA was then held up to his face. She had to stand on tip toes now that Shizuo had become taller, _ok, calm down. It'll be alright. I just…I just made a little mistake in the spell. You'll be alright. This should be reversible._

"H-How?" he crunched up his face. He really didn't like the sound of his voice.

Celty took her PDA back and typed one or two words and paused. Shizuo held his breath. She didn't forget it, did she? After a moment's pause, she resumed typing, _it's not fully reversible._

"Just tell me how to turn back to normal, goddamit!" the rage was coming back up again and in this form, Celty was worried if she could stop him.

_Well, this spell will allow you to change back to normal for the last hour of the day and the first hour of the day. In other words, between 11PM and 1AM. This spell can only be cast once and will last up to five years. In this time, it is possible to break the spell, if you can find someone to love you. Pretty simple, right?_

It seemed that Celty believed her own words, because her shoulders resembled chuckling at the last sentence.

"Simple? Simple! What girl will love me when I look like this?"

Celty flinched, realizing her mistake, _I did not think of that…_

There was a lot of anger and half a rampage afterwards, but everything was fixed once more. Well, fixed wasn't the best way to describe it. It was more of an attempt to fix things. Celty cast the second spell on Shizuo since it was better than nothing. But for a girl to fall in love with him when he's like this, Shizuo might as well give up hope.

In apology, Celty promised she would make sure he had a good house to live in and that he won't have to worry about food or work. Shizuo knew she really wanted to help and it was just unfortunate that she ended up making a mistake. It took two weeks of smashing everything in his new house before he calmed down and accept the fact that this is what he's going to have to deal with.

For the police and the government, this was a surprising turn of events. And while they prepared for the worse, they soon discovered they didn't have to. Shizuo seemed to have given up all hope of walking out as a normal person. (At least before, he looked human and approachable to those who didn't know him. Now…even that did not exist.) The only times he came out were the times he looked human and that wasn't enough time for him to cause trouble.

It was lonely, being in that house all day long by himself. His friends Celty, Shinra, Tom, Kadota, and his brother would all stop by from time to time, but only ever at night. They don't mind stopping by in the daytime, but Shizuo didn't want to risk it. He already had monstrous strength and now claws and fangs were added to the list. If he ever snapped, he was afraid he would really kill them.

So at half past eleven, Shizuo sat at the park outside his house with his brother, Kasuka. Shizuo got angry far less often now, but he wasn't sure if it was because he wasn't provoked or if he was really cured.

"Why don't you go and try to meet someone?" Kasuka asked.

"Huh?"

"You look normal right now," his brother turned to face Shizuo, "You could go to a club and it'd be normal for you to hook up with a girl."

"Er…" Shizuo blushed, "I don't really like hooking up with people like that. And besides, if I accidentally stay overtime and transform in front of everyone, that would be bad."

Kasuka didn't say anything, but simply nodded. After a moment, he added, "You'll break the curse. I know you can. You have five years. I don't believe that no one can look past how you look and see who you really are."

"Who I really am…" Shizuo mumbled, taking out a cigarette and lighting it up, "Who I really am…is probably just a monster."

"I don't believe that."

"Maybe not, but even now, I could kill someone. All I have to do is get angry. Who wants to love someone who would lose it at a drop of a hat and try to kill them?"

"Well, I've put up with it and loved you."

"You're my brother."

"Yes, I'm aware. I didn't mean it in any other way." Shizuo breathed out smoke nervously. Kasuka didn't change his facial expression, but Shizuo could tell he was laughing on the inside. He continued, "Bottom line is, Shizuo, if you don't try, you won't be able to find someone to love. And you won't find someone to break the curse. The person who can love you is out there. You can't always expect them to come to you. Sometimes, you have to look for them too."

Statements, not questions or suggestions. Shizuo took a breath of smoke. Five years. He still had four years and ten months.

* * *

><p><strong>Haha, what am I doing…starting a new multichap fic when I'm not done with my other ones? O-Oh well, they'll get done eventually. Can't stop them plot bunnies. And just to be clear, this is AU xD I tried to keep relationships similar, at the least. For one thing, I've forgotten how everyone in Kadota's group call each other. Um, I hope it was alright…<strong>

**So, um, I hope you've enjoyed the first chapter of this Beauty and the Beast retelling c: I don't know when the next chapter will be up cause of school, but it will be up! (I'm excited to write~!)**


	2. Trouble-Making Beauty

**TWO: Trouble-Making Beauty**

"Ah, so this was where ever popular Mr. President was hiding!" the door to the roof was slammed open and the boy lying on the bench pretended that he never heard the voice. "Orihara-kuuun!" the voice was getting louder and his footsteps were irritating. Still, he didn't want to get up. "Quit faking! The girls are being bothersome again!"

"Izaya!" he began shaking the boy, in attempts to get him to 'wake up.'

"Tsk," Izaya finally opened his eyes, "If you don't like them, just walk away from them, Shinra."

"I did!" Shinra exclaimed as he pushed his glasses up his nose, "Izaya! You hide up here for lunch every day! Don't you have duties as class president?"

Izaya groaned as he rolled onto his side and tried to drown out his best friend's annoying voice! Why did they become friends anyways? Oh, right, because the rest of the middle school were simply filled with people like those girls. Ever so boring and annoying. So predictable.

It wasn't hard to get the entire student body to love him, Izaya Orihara. He had mainly done it to please his parents, set up a good example for his sisters... People was so predictable, he just said and did what they liked. The only exception had been Shinra...who Izaya thought of as on 'his level.'

"Where's Dotachin?"

"Trying to run away from the girls looking for you," Shinra said sarcastically. "I'm surprised they haven't thought of to check up here, yet," he said as he shoved Izaya's feet over so he could sit on the bench as well.

"Mnn..." Izaya groaned again as he looked up at the moving clouds. _Because they're stupid_, Izaya answered Shinra's question in his mind.

"Why don't you just date one of them? I mean, you don't have to like her, but it will make the rest of them stop. Few girls are interested in taken men," Shinra chuckled at his own joke.

Izaya frowned and didn't say anything as he watched the clouds shift by. He listened to his friend jabber on and on before the bell finally rang.

_It's so boring, they're all so boring_, Izaya thought as he followed Shinra down the stairs. With each step he took, he began to rationalize, wasn't all this boringness happening because he's playing good? As long as he kept up good grades, his parents wouldn't really care. As long as he didn't get into trouble at school, his parents wouldn't be upset. A small smile tugged at his lips as he reached the bottom step on the floor of his classroom. Why hadn't he thought of this sooner?

A few weeks later, Izaya announced in front of his class that he was moving away. He wasn't moving far, just to the next town over so he could still come back and visit the class, but it was too far away to continue attending this school. The girls all cried and begged for him to stay. Izaya simply apologized modestly.

"This is sudden," Shinra said. Classes were over for the day and their classroom was nearly empty except for three boys. "You haven't mentioned anything about moving away to us!"

Before Izaya could say anything, Kadota cut in, "Why do you have to move?"

"Ahm..." Izaya searched carefully for words, "It's for business reasons, my parents only told me two days ago." His face stretched into a sly grin, "Besides, it wouldn't be fair to only let you two know when the whole class is curious."

"Liar," Kadota said. The two other boys looked at him. While Shinra knew that Izaya was lying as well, he wouldn't have called him out so boldly.

Izaya didn't say anything for a while. Finally he giggled, "I'm going to miss a lot with you guys, huh? You'll probably make new friends without me, too!"

"You could stay with one of us," Shinra suggested, "My dad definitely won't mind having you here, he's not even around that often. I'm sure your parents will be alright with it as well."

Izaya shook his head, "No, everything's been packed. There's no point."

In the first few months that Izaya had moved away, the three boys still met up regularly to talk and chat. Afterwards, Izaya only messaged them or talked with them online. He usually asked the other two boys about what was going on in the city and they would gladly respond because there's always something happening there. As the months passed, they started knowing less and less about Izaya, what sort of person was he and what was he doing? Whenever they asked, Izaya would say something vague and change the topic again.

After Izaya left, Shinra and Kadota began making new friends, both inside and outside of school. The two boys didn't talk as much as they used to. They went to the same high school, but Kadota had a new group of friends and Shinra was studying to become a doctor. The one new friend they had in common was Shizuo Heiwajima.

"Shizuo Heiwajima? Sounds like the name of a guy who broods in the back of the class with no friends," Izaya's voice traveled through the phone.

"Um, well," Shinra fumbled with his words, "You're not really wrong..." Laughter erupted from the other end of the line.

"I knew it, seems like he's a boring one too."

"Actually, he's the life of the school."

"What? How so?"

"He's really strong."

"So?" Izaya sounded bored, "Hey, hey, tell me about that new project you were going to do? With the rabbits?"

"Oh!" Shinra perked up, Shizuo forgotten. There wasn't a moment in the world when he didn't like talking about his projects.

* * *

><p>"Shut the hell up!" Shizuo roared as he lifted his desk high above his head. The room fell into a heavy silence. A few minutes past before Shizuo set the table back onto the floor. He sat down and leaned back in his chair. He looked so peaceful, but nobody dared to make a sound. They didn't know what could possibly set the strongest man in school off.<p>

Five minutes later, their homeroom teacher walked in with a surprised look on his face. "Good morning, class! You're so quiet today, I'm proud!" Everyone held their breath to see if Shizuo would snap. He didn't, he had fallen asleep.

"Hey, Shizuo, I heard you scared your homeroom class again this morning," Kadota said during their lunch break together.

"Yea, what of it?" he said with his mouth full of sandwich, "They were being loud and annoying."

"That may be so, but-" Kadota paused as the table shook, "Oh, sorry, that's me." He picked up his phone which he had placed next to his lunch tray. Shizuo looked a little annoyed by the sudden vibration, but didn't say or do anything.

Kadota raised an eyebrow before typing a message in return.

"Who was that?" Shizuo asked as he finished his sandwich.

"One of my friends from middle school, Izaya."

"Izaya? That's a strange name."

"I think there's a story behind it, but he never told us the full thing," Kadota's phone buzzed again and he quickly typed up a message.

"What are you two talking about?"

Kadota smirked, "You, actually. He said that Shinra mentioned you to him the other day and he's surprised I'm with you right now."

"Hmph, what's so surprising about that?"

"I don't know, Izaya finds amusement in the strangest things."

"Does he go here?"

"No."

"Good, because if he did, I think he'd piss me off."

* * *

><p>Izaya Orihara spent his high school days carelessly. He rarely went to class, just enough to pass. He was there for every exam, however, and his classmates were all puzzled as to how he knew when to show up because as far as they knew, he had few friends, if any. He was always causing trouble, but he never actually got into trouble so most people simply stayed out of his way.<p>

On the days that he was in school and there were no exams, they knew that trouble was about to happen.

"Please go out with me," he had said to the quiet class president that day. Everyone knew that the captain of the basketball team had liked her since the first week of school. And everyone knew that he had a possessive and short temper. However, he was too shy to let her know he liked her.

"What?"

"I really like you," Izaya said with a genuine smile. The smile wasn't for her, it was for the basketball captain that was standing behind him with shock.

"B-But this is so sudden," she stumbled on her words and blushed, "B-Besides, you're never here, w-which gives me trouble so...so..."

Izaya leaned against her desk, "So? Why does all of that matter? I like you."

Everyone expected the basketball captain to lose it try to kill Izaya, but he didn't. Izaya, however, knew from the start just how the captain would react. He had been watching the captain for the past few days and knew that despite his temper, he had a good heart. In a few weeks, Izaya attended school every day and said and did all the right things. The class president couldn't help but fall in love with him.

"Let's break up."

She looked up at him with shock in her eyes, "Sorry? What did you say?"

Izaya bit back a chuckle and hung his head down in order to avoid having her see him smile, "I said, let's break up."

"Why?" she demanded.

"I made a mistake, sorry," he paused, looking at her in the corner of his eye to see her reaction, "I don't think I ever really liked you."

Later that day, the basketball captain did snap and attacked Izaya in the school yard. There was a small brawl and some damaged school property, but Izaya didn't get into any trouble. The captain attacked first and all Izaya did was dodge his attacks, he didn't hit back, they didn't have any grounds for giving him punishment. Of course, he also made sure the class president saw all of this. She was in love with Izaya and after seeing the captain attack him, there was no way she could love the captain.

He laughed, this was so much fun!

That was how Izaya spent his high school days. He would befriend some outcast only to leave them more broken up than before or date a girl then dump her to see her reaction. It was easy with his good looks and mysterious reputation. Everyone knew about all the bad things he did, but everyone he enticed always thought that he would change or that they could change him. Why in the world do humans think that way despite the facts they see around them?

"Explain to me, humans! Just what are you thinking..."

* * *

><p>Seven months had passed since Shizuo received his curse. Despite the suggestions of his brother and friends, he still found it hard to muster the courage to leave his home. He was always afraid of being tempted to stay outside for too long and when the clock struck 1AM, he would transform in the streets. Some nights, however, he couldn't resist the urge of the pleasant cool breeze and the sounds of laughter outside his house.<p>

Tonight, he set an alarm on his phone to alert him half an hour before one; he didn't want to take any chances.

At this hour, there weren't many people in the park. All the children and their parents had gone home, all that remained were young couples enjoying a moment together. It was a nice sight, but it reminded him of how he didn't have anyone. How he would be cursed as a beast forever because there was no way anyone could possibly love him.

"Shit," he mumbled, not full of rage, but full of sadness and hopelessness.

As he was moping around in the path, he heard the sound of voices nearby. They were nearing and he meant to continue his way and ignore them when his alarm rang. Shizuo jumped and the voices paused for a moment before returning to their conversation. Shizuo quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket and he found that an hour and a half really had past and he had to get out of this park fast.

The voices were getting closer, "Stop clinging to me, you drunkard." It was a male voice. Around the corner came a brunette with a girl following close behind him, trying to cling to his arm. Shizuo knew that he should have left right away, should have just walked out of there, but he didn't like the situation.

"Isa-kun~~" the girl slurred, "I want to go dance, come dance with me at a party!"

The man slapped her hand away, "Go dance with the guy you were on the floor with at the last club. I told you we were over."

The drunk girl probably couldn't see it at that time, but Shizuo did. The man was smiling, like he thought the entire situation was hilarious.

"I didn't wanna dance with him! I wanna dance with you!" again, the girl tried to grab onto his arm, but he simply shook her off.

"We're through, get out of my sight."

"Wha? Isa-Isa!"

"Don't call me that, you disgusting bitch."

And that was when Shizuo felt his temper flare. He reached over and held the girl steady, "Hey, that's no way to talk to a girl! Especially if she's your girlfriend!"

The man glared back up at him, "Mind your own business and if you hadn't been eavesdropping correctly," his lips turning into a smirk again, "She's no longer my girlfriend!"

"Isa-kun!"

"Girlfriend or not, you're going to leave her drunk in a park? What kind of man are you?"

The man shrugged, "If that's what you define being a man as, why don't you take her home?" His smile showed teeth, "I'm sure she'll hang all over you like any other guy she looks at."

"You-" Shizuo snapped, "Bastard!" Letting go of the girl, he reached out to punch the other man.

"Woah~!" The man quickly dodged to the side and Shizuo felt a sudden sting in his wrist. When he turned around, the man was standing in front of him with the same teeth-showing-smile. Shizuo's wrist was bleeding-how? When did he get cut? "You brute, don't you think it's rude to try and hit me on our first meeting, Shizu-chan?"

"Shut the hell up, you piece of trash!" he paused for a second, "How do you know my name?"

The man shrugged, "You're famous, Shizu-chan! I heard about you even from outside the city! I also heard that you've disappeared off the face of the earth, but I guess that's not true." The man took his hand out of his pocket and pointed the knife he had been holding at Shizuo, "So tell me, what's wrong? Why have you been hiding all these months? I wanted to know more about you!"

"Shut the hell up! Your rambling is pissing me off!" Shizuo pulled a nearby bench off the concrete and threw it at the man.

His red eyes widened and his grin stretched further across his face. This was fascinating, so fascinating! He had never met someone like Shizuo before! Completely unreasonable, without restraint, he was barely human! _Barely even human...of course_, as he was thinking this, he dodged the bench and dashed forward to attack with his knife again- a quick swipe across the chest before jumping out of Shizuo's arms length again.

The man clicked his tongue and pocketed his knife again, "Just like some sort of monster..."

Involuntarily, Shizuo flinched at his words.

"You disgust me."

"Shut the hell up, you-" Shizuo a strange tingling in his skin and the rest of his words were lost in a roar. _No, no, no, no, no, no!_ Shizuo's thoughts raced as he watched his fingers turn into claws and his arms turn hairy. Behind him, despite being drunk, the girl realized that a monster stood in front of her and began screaming. In front of him, the man stood frozen, but without a smile. He looked as though he was in absolute shock and could no longer comprehend what he was seeing.

_I need to get out of here!_ Although he was angry at the man in front of him, Shizuo didn't want to kill him. If he stayed here any longer, his temper would flare again and no matter how strong that man is, Shizuo would rip him into pieces. Even now, Shizuo didn't want to harm anyone, much less kill someone.

He bolted. He ripped a hole in the iron fence that surrounded the park and left the scene. The man's crimson eyes followed his form. He saw the beast get in the middle of traffic and terrorize teenagers on the street and finally he saw him disappear around a corner.

"...A monster..." Izaya's words shook. For the first time ever, something physical frightened him.

* * *

><p><strong>This took a while to write (not really, literal writing process was a couple of days). I had a different version of this chapter typed out at nearly the same time as the first chapter. Halfway through, I looked back at it and didn't like it. I sort of forgot about it afterwards xP;; So now, practically a year later, I started rewatching DRRR! and got the motivation to start writing again. I don't know if my writing style has changed slightly or radically, but I do hope this chapter was at least enjoyable and the characterizations still fit the actual characters!<strong>


	3. Beauty vs the Beast

**THREE: Beauty vs. the Beast**

"Let's review the facts again," the girl said as she laid down several ripped pages of magazines on the floor. The girl sitting next to her nodded and looked down at the pages.

"He's been sighted here," the first girl continued talking as she pointed at a map that was also sprawled on the floor, "here, and here." Now she grabbed a marker and drew a big red circle around the three places.

"Nobody knows why he goes there, but he's there at least twice a week, mostly on weekends late at night. So our best chances to meet him is if we go there late at night on a weekend!" the girl excitedly threw her hands up, letting the marker fly through the air and hit the floor with a loud 'clack.' The other girl simply watched the trajectory of the marker without a sound before returning her attention to her companion.

"I wonder what he goes there for? Hopefully not a girl?" the other girl shook her head in agreement, "Right! Because we're the ones who would marry him!"

* * *

><p>"The beast of Ikebukuro..." Izaya mumbled as he sat in front of his desk in his office. He had not been able to sleep right since he met Shizuo. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see that...that...inhumane thing in front of his eyes. It wasn't the first time he's seen a monster, no he has long since accepted things like that existed, but he had never been afraid of them.<p>

(Of course, the only 'monster' he's ever met was Celty and he wasn't afraid of her for the reason that she was a logical being. She had ethical values, feelings-logic. He could talk with her.)

At the same time that he was scared, however, Izaya couldn't help but feel intrigued by the monster. Just what is this person thinking? How can he act that way? Why does he act like that? "How annoying," he mumbled with a chuckle. He spun around in his chair as he thought before coming to a stop facing away from his desk. He stood up and walked to the floor length window of his office, "Well, the only way to get rid of your fears is to face them!"

Of course, being the type of person he was, Izaya didn't plan to fight Shizuo face to face, _noo~ He'd probably kill me in a second_. He'd have to prod and poke until Shizuo shows all of his weak points. "That'll be when I'll attack! Hahaha! He's mine!" Izaya said excitedly as he grabbed his coat and walked out the door with a skip.

In the other room, his secretary listened with a frown, "I hate it when he gets a new toy." Every time her boss finds someone to play with, she gets the receiving end of his endless, senseless prattles. However, she was still curious as to who had caught Izaya's interest this time around.

Walking into Izaya's office, she shifted a few papers that were lying on his desk. "...The Beast of Ikebukuro, Shizuo Heiwajima?" she read out loud from a newspaper article. Reading the first few lines of the article, she furrowed her eyebrows, "Does Izaya have a death wish?"

Right after she lost interest and put the article down, the phone suddenly rang. It wasn't any of Izaya's numerous cell phones, but the office phone so as his secretary, she was allowed to touch that.

"Hello?"

"Iza-nii! ...Eh? This is...?"

"His secretary, Namie. Who is this?"

"Mairu-"

"...Kururi," the person on the other end of the phone was cut off briefly as a soft voice floated in from the background. Their voices sounded alike and Namie thought they were two of the many girls that looked up to Izaya. Strange, they wouldn't usually call his office.

"We're Iza-nii's sisters!"

_I feel so sorry for you two_, Namie nearly said out loud, but managed to contain it at the last moment.

"Anyways, is Iza-nii not there?"

"No."

"Oh, well, maybe we should try his other phones-"

"Ask her," the other voice in the background cut in again.

"Oh, hey! Good idea, Kuro-nee!" there was a small moment of silence and Namie considered hanging up, but the first girl, Mairu, spoke up just as she was about to do so, "So, the thing is..."

* * *

><p>A week had passed since Shizuo met Izaya. For the entire week, Shizuo was afraid to step outside of the house. Instead, he hid in a corner of his room with blankets covering his head. The events from that night kept replaying in his mind.<p>

Shizuo had felt so angry that night that he could have killed that man. It had really been a long time since he felt so angry that he lost control, that he forgot what time it was. That he had forgotten _what_ he was. Even if that man had been able to keep up with him in his human form, Shizuo was certain he might've really murdered him.

And so, he had been hiding in his house for the entire week, not daring to even step outside for a breath of air. He was afraid of some little thing ticking him off and making him go into a rage.

"Seriously, that asshole ruined any peace of mind I had," he mumbled as he watched the last of the sun's rays disappeared for the day. It has been a week, perhaps it would be alright to leave the house again. Besides, he didn't feel so angry at that man anymore. Sure, that man had been extremely annoying in both attitude and personality, but Shizuo was certain that unless he saw him again, he won't feel angry.

Kasuka was planning to visit tonight as well so if anything, he should blow off some steam before Kasuka came by.

As he walked though the house, the floorboards groaned. It was a new house, but his weight in beast form was probably the maximum that the floor could hold. The house wasn't very decorated, just furniture in a few rooms. There was a bed in one of the three bedrooms on the second floor; the other two were empty. In the living room on the first floor, there was a couch and a television. The kitchen had a fridge and a stove.

Celty had offered to buy him more furniture, but he declined her offer. He broke enough chairs and tables in the first month of living here and Celty had paid for all the replacements. It didn't matter how much she offered, she would still feel guilty and Shizuo rather not burden her any further. _If she's going to feel guilty for everything, at least have her keep her money_, was his conclusion.

The walls weren't decorated with anything, only scratch marks and chipped corners. At first, they had tried to repaint the walls each time he accidentally defaced one. However, it became a daily thing and they changed to painting the walls every once in a while. Shizuo hadn't bothered to do so since they decided on that.

All in all, the house looked wonderful on the outside, but like the lair of a beast on the inside.

As the clock struck eleven, the usual transformation happened. Shizuo didn't have a single mirror in the house, but he had seen his shadow on the floor. He was sure the process was horrendous. After all, that girl from last week screamed as he transformed.

Shizuo slammed the door to the refrigerator shut, he could feel sparks of anger fire up again as he thought about the events of that night. He was significantly less angry, but... _Ah, this is no good, I need to get rid of this anger before Kasuka comes._

He looked out from the kitchen window of the house. Tonight was a nice night, too. "...It won't hurt, right?" the truth was that he hadn't hurt anyone that night. Sure, he was afraid he might have if he stayed longer, but he knew, right? He knew that he had to get out of there the moment he transformed.

Shizuo's lips tugged up into a small smile of relief. Yes, he still had control.

Thirty minutes later, however, Shizuo had forgotten anything about control.

The moment the bartender had arrived at the populated streets of Ikebukuro, he knew something was wrong. As Shizuo walked down the street, he saw that several people were looking at him. They weren't staring, no, they were trying to be secretive about it. One had a hat on, but Shizuo could see his face turning as he walked by. Another one was pretending to be doing some heavy lifting off a truck, but he also had his eyes trained on Shizuo.

"That's weird," Shizuo mumbled as he stopped to light a cigarette. Had he been anyone else, he would be worried, but Shizuo had yet to lose a fight. At that thought, his mind went back the night a week ago. That didn't count as a loss, right? ...Of course, he ran away, but...it was more of a draw, right?

"How annoying," Shizuo grumbled as he turned the corner and walked down a dark back street. As he expected, the couple of guys who had been watching him followed him around the corner.

"Hey, that's him, right?"

"We can't really afford mistakes."

"Check with the information Orihara-san gave us."

Shizuo bit down on the cancer stick in his mouth as his anger level approached maximum, "Would you guys shut up, your whispering is so annoying."

Just as he said that, he felt a hard object hit the back of his head. Silence filled the air as drops of blood dripped down from a cut on his head. "...Ow," the cigarette dropped from his hand and he crudely smushed it against the ground with his foot.

He turned around and glanced at the floor, someone had thrown a metal rod at his head. "You know, that could've killed me!" he yelled at the five delinquents who surrounded him with bats and crowbars in the hands.

While the teenagers were still stunned that a hit from a metal rod hadn't knocked him out, Shizuo reached out and grabbed the nearest delinquent by the face. He spun him around once before letting him fly off into the night sky.

The rest of the delinquents watched this in shock and dropped all of their weapons to break out into a run.

"Running away, huh? Finish what you started, you punks!" Shizuo yelled as he ran after them. Who cares about control? What about turning into a monster in an hour and a half? Shizuo just wanted to beat those punks up! What were they thinking, pissing them off? He didn't care for a reason, they had no right to hit a random citizen peacefully walking in the streets!

A few blocks away, sitting on a rooftop to watch all the commotion, a man smirked in amusement. "Seriously, Shizu-chan, did you not think about the consequences?"

After fifteen minutes of watching Shizuo chase down the teenagers while screaming insults, Izaya's phone started ringing, "Hello?"

"Orihara-san! Help! Save us!" the teenager on the other side of the phone screamed.

"What? Save you? I can't do anything against a beast like that!" Izaya laughed into the receiver as he heard the delinquent scream. It sounds like Shizuo caught him. He had been so amused that he hadn't noticed that the screaming stopped and a new voice spoke on the other side of the phone.

"You! You're their leader, aren't you?!"

"...Oh."

"Who are you? Where the hell are you? I'm going to kill you!"

"What? I'm afraid I can't deliver your pizza to you if you kill me."

Shizuo was silent for a moment before yelling through the phone again, "Don't fuck with me! Who the hell are you?"

"Sorry, but it is strictly against the company's policy to have a relationship with clients!" Izaya had to cover his mouth to prevent his laughter as Shizuo cursed and threatened him further.

"Our company doesn't appreciate prank calls," Izaya hung up and started laughing uncontrollably. He stopped laughing however, when the phone started ringing again. The caller ID showed that it was from the same delinquent's phone. "Wow, you're stupid. At least try to hide and turn off the caller ID," he chuckled as he raised his hand up and threw the phone as far as he can.

On the other end of the phone, Shizuo redialed three times before crushing the device in his hands. Tossing the broken phone into a nearby dumpster, he walked out of the alleyway with an angry roar.

For the next three months, these events continued to happen. Some random punks would pop out of nowhere and try to pick a fight with Shizuo only to end up running away screaming for help. It never took longer than an hour for Shizuo to track them all down and vent out his anger so he never got into any trouble with his beast form. Of course, it made meeting up with Kasuka a less frequent thing since he would go out right before his brother visited to make sure he wasn't too angry about the previous week's events. Unfortunately, every time he did set foot outside, he'll get attacked again and had no time to calm down and return to his brother as a human.

"He really doesn't learn, does he?" Izaya mumbled with a chuckle when he recognized the pattern.

It also didn't take long for the Ikebukuro population to take notice of Shizuo's return. Reporters started writing stories about encounters with the bartender of inhumane strength and internet forums began conversations about theories as to what had caused Shizuo to disappear then return. From Shizuo's knowledge, none of them had gotten it right.

"Brother sure has gotten popular recently," Kasuka had said one evening when Shizuo was somehow lucky enough to not meet up with any hoodlums.

"It's not my fault," Shizuo grumbled as he went to get a carton of milk for them from the refrigerator. "Every time I go for a walk, these guys just jump me!"

"No one has seen your beast form, though."

"...Yea, somehow," Shizuo mumbled. It really was a relief. "If I ever find out who that guy is..." Shizuo mumbled as he sat down on the couch next to his brother again, "I swear, I'll kill him!"

"Brother," Kasuka said and Shizuo remembered that he had to remain calm, "That guy?"

"Um..." Shizuo's eyebrows furrowed as he thought back to the past few weeks, "Every once in a while, the guys I chase down would mention someone. Sometimes they'd even beg for his help. I spoke with him once over the phone as well."

"Orihara."

Kasuka was silent for a while before looking at Shizuo, "I think I've heard of that name somewhere."

"You have?" Shizuo said excitedly, "Please point the way to him because I'm going to beat him to a pulp!"

Kasuka was silent again, "I don't know where I heard it from, but I have heard of that name from somewhere-Orihara."

Shizuo let out a groan as he sank into the sofa, "Well, it was too good to hope for." He glanced at the clock, which Kasuka noticed.

It was a quarter to one. "I should get going, but I'll keep you updated if anything comes up."

"Thanks Kasuka," Shizuo said with a smile as his brother gathered his things and got ready to leave.

* * *

><p>It was at that moment that things began to go wrong. Kasuka had said a final good bye and walked out of the house. In fifteen minutes, Shizuo's appearance returned to the beast.<p>

Kasuka had a car and it was parked a block away from Shizuo's house. He had made sure to bring his hat with him when he visited Shizuo. As he unlocked his car, he realized he had forgotten to put it on when he left.

Dropping his coat in the passenger seat, he turned to walk back to his brother's house. Only thirteen minutes had passed, he could still ask his brother to get his hat back for him. It was a short walk, couldn't take more than a minute.

A few feet away from his brother's house, he heard a girl's voice from behind him.

"Found you! Yuhei!"

Before he could turn around, he was tackled to the ground by the girl.

"Who..."

"Yuhei! My sister and I have been dying to meet you!" the girl said and Kasuka smelled something sweet.

Kasuka managed to turn around while in their grip and saw two girls with the exact face staring at him. The moment he saw them, he remembered where he heard the name "Orihara" from. _This is dangerous_, he thought as he glanced at Shizuo's house.

Shizuo must've heard the commotion from inside, because the door suddenly burst open and Shizuo ran out in his beast form.

The two girls screamed and tried to run away, but they were caught in Shizuo's grip in no time. Shizuo held one of the girls in each of his hands as they let out scream after scream. "Hey, quiet down!" Shizuo tried to tell them, but it was no use. People who had been asleep on the block began waking up and turning on lights. "Sh-Shh- I'm not going to hurt you!"

It wasn't right, but Kasuka knew he had to quiet them down before anyone saw Shizuo so he picked up the sweet-smelling rag the girls had dropped and placed it next to their noses. They stopped moving in minutes. "Hurry and get back inside, Shizuo," Kasuka said as he heard the sound of doors being unlocked.

* * *

><p>Once inside and away from prying eyes, Shizuo placed the girls on the couch and moved to sit in the furthest corner from them. "They're high school girls. When I went out there, I thought they were grown," Shizuo mumbled timidly.<p>

"Everyone can make that mistake in the dark. The important part is that you didn't kill them," Kasuka said and tried to coax Shizuo out of the corner. He could hear the commotion outside and heard that someone considered calling the police, "On second thought, you should stay there."

Kasuka walked over to the windows and made sure that all the curtains were pulled together. From a peek, it looked like nobody had noticed Shizuo going into this house. Turning back to his brother, Kasuka saw that he was still hiding in the corner.

"You should leave, Kasuka."

"With that crowd outside?"

"...Right."

"By the way, that name, Orihara," Kasuka said and Shizuo perked up. He even lifted his head out from his arms for a few seconds. "A few days ago I had come to Ikebukuro for a shoot. The security guards caught these two girls sneaking around. Their last name is Orihara."

Shizuo now stood up and looked at the girls, his curiosity greater than his fear, "...I'm sure the person ordering those gangsters around is a guy."

"Yea, there's a chance they have nothing to do with him after all," Kasuka looked at the girls, "Anyways, we should find out if they have any contact information on them." He opened the bag that one of the girls was wearing and pulled out a cell phone. "Here, you call a home number. I'll try waking them up. They don't look all that dangerous."

Shizuo nodded as he moved to the kitchen. The phone was tiny in his claws and he had to be careful to not break it. It took him a while, but he finally got the contact list to open. There were only a few numbers on the list and none of them was named "Home" or "Mom" or "Dad." The closest thing he found was "Iza-nii."

* * *

><p>"Izaya," Namie called to get the attention of her employer as she placed a cup of tea on his desk.<p>

"Yes~?"

"I forgot to mention, a little while back I gave your sisters some information."

Izaya dropped the papers he was holding, "You talked with my sisters?!"

"...Yes," Namie didn't understand why Izaya looked so shocked.

His expression turned into an annoyed one, "Nngh... Anyways, what did you tell them?"

"They asked about the house that Kasuka was seen near-"

The office phone suddenly rang and Izaya made a hand motion for Namie to stop talking so he could answer, "Hello?" The moment he said that, he heard the click of someone hanging up. Izaya raised an eyebrow as he looked at the phone as if expecting an explanation. Frowning, he put the phone back on the receiver, "Prank call? What did you tell my sisters?"

As Namie was about to speak, the phone rang again. Izaya frowned and reached for the phone again, "Hel-"

"If you don't get your ass over here right now, I'm going to eat your sisters!"

* * *

><p>As Shizuo pressed the end call button, he wasn't sure why he said that. He recognized the voice on the other end of the phone. It was the same as the one from the phone of one of the delinquents he knocked out three months ago. It was a surprise he could still remember it, but the guy's voice could piss him off anywhere.<p>

Of course, Shizuo won't eat the two girls in his living room, he only said that out of anger. It was the first thing that came to mind for provoking whoever had been pissing him off the past month.

Shizuo grinned, his lips pulling over two rows of sharp, white teeth. Tonight, he was ready to be angry.

* * *

><p><strong>Woooow, I finally made it to this point! I wasn't sure of what I was writing for half the chapter, but before I knew it, I made it to ten pages...! I'm not sure how faithful I'll stay to the original fairytale at this point. But, I do hope whatever the outcome, you, the reader, will find it enjoyable! C:<strong>

**(The site changed again?! I have to admit I don't really like this D: )**


	4. Deal

**FOUR: Deal**

Izaya held the phone next to his ear as the dial tone began blaring next to his ear. In front of him, Namie raised a questioning eyebrow. The silence was thick and she could hear the dial tone very clearly. "Izaya?" she asked, trying to bring him back to reality.

"Sorry, I have to make a phone call," he said quickly as he pulled the phone over to press a few numbers.

Whoever just called him must have a few screws loose. As if anyone could catch those two insane sisters of his. Honestly, he couldn't deal with them, who in the world could? Besides, there was another problem, even if the person had managed to kidnap his sisters...they didn't leave a location for him. If they were going to eat them up in some unknown location without telling Izaya, well, there was no helping that!

As the phone rang, he frowned, "Seems like they're not home." At this hour, his parents would be sleeping like a log, but his siblings were usually still up. He considered calling Mairu and Kururi directly, but their kidnapper had probably used their cell phone. Why else would they have his office number? The caller didn't sound like any of his old clients either.

"Sorry, Namie," Izaya said with his usual smirk as he got up and put his jacket on, "But you're going to have to find another escort to bring you home tonight."

"Implying that you ever planned to escort anyone home," Namie sighed and pulled out her own phone and searched through the contact list, "Where are you going so late?"

"I actually think my sisters can handle simple things like this, but my parents would be mad if something happened to them and I knew of the situation and didn't try to save them. How annoying!"

"Then why are you smiling?"

Izaya chuckled, "Just find a ride home, Namie."

Izaya actually didn't know who lived in that house or why Yuhei visited it so often. He didn't have any information about the guest inside ever leaving the house. It was a quiet neighborhood and few people were ever awake late enough to see Yuhei walking around. Izaya had only heard of three reports of seeing the man there. If Yuhei went there often, no one else had seen him do so. Izaya had guessed that the actor used a disguise each time anyways.

Either way, it was useless information, something he kept on the side to sell it to teenage girls so that his business didn't look as shady as it really was.

"Honestly, what was Namie thinking? Giving information like that to my sisters for free," Izaya mumbled as he walked through the streets of Ikebukuro to that house. Both of his sisters knew how to keep themselves safe so whoever brought the two of them down and took their phone must be a real piece of work.

When he finally arrived at the street where the house was, he was greeted with flashing red and blue lights. Parked at the end of the street, a few houses away from the one Yuhei was sighted going into were several police cars. There was even an ambulance on the other side of the street.

Izaya narrowed his eyes, this doesn't look good.

"Excuse me~" he said in a cheery voice as he walked up to one of the people talking with an officer, "Can I ask what happened here?"

"Izaya!" the officer suddenly exclaimed when he looked up from his clipboard. He had been writing down the details from several people in the neighborhood.

"Oh, Dotachin! Fancy meeting you here!"

Kadota made an exasperated expression and handed his clipboard to an officer behind him, "Togusa, take care of this for me." Before his coworker had a chance to complain, Kadota had already dragged Izaya a couple feet away from where they were standing.

"Izaya, what are you doing here?"

"I heard the commotion so I came to see what's going on!"

Kadota made another pained look before explaining, "Several people called the station saying they heard screaming."

"Hearing screams calls for three police cars and an ambulance?"

Kadota froze, as if he realized he said something he shouldn't have, "Uh, well... It's, um..."

"Let me guess," Izaya's lips began stretching across his face in a grin, "It has something to do with _that_ house." Izaya heard Kadota make a soft sound and he knew he was right.

"Izaya, it's late, just go back home."

"Unfortunately, I have some business here tonight."

"What? What could you possibly-" but Izaya had side-stepped and walked past Kadota towards the house, "Izaya! Come back here! Listen to me, you can't go in there!" He reached out to grab Izaya's arm, but it was too late, he already jumped over the front gate and was making his way to the front of the house. Kadota scrambled to jump over the gate, but Izaya had always been the fastest person he's ever known and made it to the front door by the time he turned around.

"Oi!" Izaya began knocking on the front door loudly, "If you're going to kidnap and eat my sisters, at least let me be there to see it!"

"Shit..." Kadota mumbled.

As if on cue, the door was suddenly ripped open and the jaws of a beast snapped itself in front of Izaya's face.

"Might I suggest a mint?" Izaya mumbled as fear filled his eyes. He still remembered to move, luckily, when one of Shizuo's clawed hands swung down at him. Jumping back and sliding to the gate, Izaya pulled out his pocket knife in defense. "Couldn't have given me a warning, Dotachin?" there wasn't much he could do now. He couldn't face Shizuo in that form. His best bet would be to run away.

On the sidewalks, people's heads began turning to the source of the noise. As soon as they caught sight of Shizuo, they began screaming and running around. The police lost any sort of control or order as everyone began panicking.

"Shizuo! Calm down!" Kadota yelled as the beast started chasing Izaya down the street. "Hey, Izaya! Come back here-"

"Brother's gone."

Kadota looked behind him to see Kasuka looking out the destroyed door.

"Kasuka...Is there anything you can-" Kadota didn't finish speaking and Kasuka was already shaking his head. Kadota sighed, "This is going to be one hell of a report I'll have to write up."

* * *

><p>"Ne ne, Shizu-chan, you sure followed me at a great distance! Do you love me or something?"<p>

"Who the hell would love a guy like you?"

"Right back at you."

Izaya was smiling at his foe, but the fear was clearly reflected in his eyes. This Shizuo was inhuman in every sense of the word. Izaya was getting tired, but Shizuo seemed to still have stamina for another five miles. They had been running through the streets of Ikebukuro and even at this hour, there were still people walking around. Every time someone caught sight of Shizuo, they either screamed or stared in disbelief.

Izaya had kicked over or thrown whatever he could find on the streets at the beast, but it didn't stop him from chasing. Meanwhile, Shizuo had been pulling things like street signs to throw at Izaya.

_There should be a limit to how much strength he has_, Izaya thought as he caught sight of Shizuo picking up a car to throw at him. It missed, thankfully, but Izaya wasn't sure if that was part of his normal strength or his beastly one. He really hoped that it was his beastly one.

After running around the city for an hour, Izaya was at his limit. Not to mention he had made a wrong turn and was now at the dead end of an alleyway. Looking at the wall in front of him, he heard the sound of clawed feet sliding to a stop on the pavement behind him.

"Nowhere else to run?" Shizuo's voice threatened as Izaya turned to face him.

"I'm not out of ideas," Izaya grinned as he held his knife at arm's length.

"That little piece of metal isn't going to protect you."

"I...know," Izaya admitted grudgingly as he took a step back. He considered scaling the wall, but at this distance Shizuo could easily take one step forward and just pull him back down.

As he was considering this, Izaya noticed Shizuo's clawed hand moving towards him a little too late. He swung his knife to at least block the razor sharp nails, but the knife was simply torn out of his hands. Now he really was defenseless.

"You wouldn't really kill me, right, Shizu-chan?"

"Try me."

Before either male could make another sound, a black shape filled their vision. The next thing Shizuo knew, a PDA screen was thrust into his face, _Shizuo! Calm down, are you really going to become a murderer?_

"...Celty?"

The Headless Rider then turned to face Izaya, _and you! Don't you think you've caused enough trouble for tonight?_

"I honestly haven't done much of anything tonight..."

_That's it. You_- there was a pause as a wisp of black smoke surrounded Shizuo and Izaya's wrists, _and you are coming back with me!_ With that demanding tone in her text, the wisps of smoke solidified into a pair of shiny black handcuffs on their wrists.

"What-" both of them began, but was unable to finish when she pulled on the chains and started speeding off on her motorcycle with the two of them clinging on to the chains behind her.

"C-Celty! It won't kill him because he's an ugly monster, but at least give me a helmet!"

"I hope you die, Flea!"

When the motorbike finally stopped in front of Shizuo's house, both backseat riders collapsed in a heap. Flying behind a motorcycle across a highway at over a hundred miles per hour were not on their bucket list of things to do.

Izaya had scraped himself several times before landing and touched one of the cuts gently. When he hissed in pain, Shizuo looked at him, "Did you get cut?" he reached over to try to see what had happened to the informant.

"Don't touch me!"

"I was just-"

_Can you stop arguing for two minutes?_ Celty angrily put the PDA in front of their faces, _Now go inside before I make you._

As the two men stood up, they realized with an unpleasant face that Celty had not unchained them. They didn't dare ask in case they piss her off further.

Inside Shizuo's house, Kadota and Shinra were waiting for them. They had already sent Mairu and Kururi home and Kasuka had made use of the earlier confusion to sneak away.

"Wow, I was going to introduce you guys back in high school, but it seems that wasn't necessary because you guys met up later in life anyways!" Shinra exclaimed from the sofa. The lights were on now and they could all see what a mess the house was in.

"What?" Shizuo grumbled as he took a seat on the floor against the wall. Being chained to him, Izaya was pulled over to stand next to the beast.

"Shinra and I know Izaya from middle school. He moved away so you guys never had the chance to meet each other. ...Until now," Kadota added with a sigh. "So how did all of this start?"

When neither of them wanted to respond, Shinra glanced at Celty, who typed on her PDA, _We could just leave you two in a room to spend quality time together._

Izaya, who wanted to avoid being alone with a monster the most, quickly responded, "He kidnapped my sisters!"

"They tried to kidnap my brother!"

"Izaya, we know for a fact that you don't even really care about your sisters," Shinra mumbled as he pushed his glasses up with a disbelieving look.

"I... I might not like them, but he threatened to eat them!"

All eyes turned to Shizuo, "What do you have to say to that?"

"...They tried to kidnap my brother."

"They were sleeping earlier. So you already had them under control, why didn't you just call Izaya and ask him to pick them up instead?"

The room was silent as the two chained together both knew the answer.

"Because the Flea has been antagonizing me every time I step outside."

It took the other three occupants in the room a moment to understand who Shizuo was referring to, they turned to Izaya. "Why would you do that- Actually, never mind, I can picture why you would."

"Anyways, Celty, my darling~ What should we do about this?"

"If we let them go unpunished, this would just spell more reports for me in the future," Kadota mumbled.

"That's selfish, Dotachin!"

"I don't want to hear that from you."

It was clear to everyone in the room who was the one responsible for this mess. In the end, it was Celty who came up with a solution.

_We really can't let Izaya causing trouble for Shizuo. He's on a time limit after all._

"Time limit?" Izaya questioned, but no one in the room answered him.

_So if we keep him off the streets, that might save some trouble._

"And how are we going to do that? I refuse to let him be chained up in our apartment-"

"Where did you even come up with that idea?!"

"-The very thought is nauseating."

"Well, there is one person who can probably keep him under wraps," Kadota spoke as he looked at one person in the room.

When Shizuo realized that everyone was looking at him, his face scrunched up in confusion, "...Me?"

"Yea, you have the strength to do it."

Beside Shizuo, Izaya's eyes went wide with fear, "You must be joking! I'm not staying with...with...a monster who might eat me at any moment!"

"Shut up," Shizuo grumbled, a little hurt. So far, most people have avoided calling him a monster. People who saw his beast form outside would scream, but at such a close distance where he could hear and see the other person clearly, he hadn't been called a monster in seven months, "I don't eat people. And like I want you in my house anyways."

Celty began typing on her PDA and everyone else could sense the sadism in her message. She was really annoyed at being called out late at night to stop Shizuo and Izaya.

_Since Izaya is the one at fault here, he should be punished, right? So let's have him stay here with Shizuo. In return, Shizuo should be allowed to do whatever he wants with Izaya because-_

Izaya didn't like the fact that she had paused in her message.

_He's the master of the house._

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shizuo's lips draw back in a smile. It was a scary thing to see-two rows of white teeth gleaming in the dimly lit room.

"That doesn't sound too bad. I can get revenge for everything you've done in the past two months."

Get revenge? Izaya did his best to make sure his face showed all the fear he felt. What would a beast like Shizuo do to him? Chain him up? Beat him up every day? Cut off all his fingers one by one before killing him? The more he thought about it, the more nauseating he felt, "You guys...You guys wouldn't really do this, right?"

But the other occupants were getting ready to leave.

"What kind of friends are you? You're going to leave me here to die?"

"If we are," Shinra said as he walked out the door, "You kind of deserved this one."

_I'll send someone to fix the door_, Celty typed as a final message before her and Kadota also walked outside.

The chains around their wrists remained there. Izaya swallowed. He was all alone with the beast now.

And in this quiet room, the same fear he had when he was in the alleyway came back in full force.

* * *

><p><strong>I couldn't think of a good in character reason why Shizuo would keep Izaya in his house unless he was tricked into it. I hope at least this much is believable about him. <strong>

**I was heavily debating about whether or not to post up this chapter. But, if I was to wait to rewrite this, it would be another year or two before the chapter actually gets published. So here it is.  
><strong>

**Anyways, as always, thank you for reading. The pace should start picking up with the next chapter.**


	5. Morals and Pride

**FIVE: Morals and Pride**

_Did we do the right thing_, the PDA flashed the question as Celty lifted her hand off the handles of the bike to show Shinra, who was sitting behind her as they cruised down the highway. Behind her, Shinra looked at the message in surprise before smiling.

"Celty is so cute! Even though you're angry, you still want to make sure Izaya's alright. You're such a kind person!"

There was a pause from Celty as she typed the next message with one hand, _Shinra, please._

"Celty's embarassed! How cute!" sensing that his lover was getting annoyed with him, he quickly answered her question, "I think they'll be alright. Izaya's pretty hard to kill and even though he constantly loses his temper, Shizuo has never killed anyone."

_That gives a peace of mind._

"Haha, that said, we might need to bring over some bandages along with a lot of house repair equipment tomorrow!"

* * *

><p><em>There must be another way out of this house<em>, Izaya thought as he dodged a claw. A loud crash echoed through the house, well, there goes the television. Shizuo was currently standing on the other side of the room in front of the door. There was no way Izaya could run past him. Shizuo must have thought the same because the teeth-showing grin was etched back into his face.

Rather than standing there any longer, Izaya turned around and ran down the hallway. Maybe there was a back door to the yard or something. No such luck, or maybe just a wrong turn. Either way, Shizuo was charging towards him and there was just one path left for him to take-up the stairs. Without giving it a second thought, Izaya bolted up the stairs.

He was halfway upstairs when he felt a grip on his ankle. "Aghh!" he was pulled down a couple of steps before he caught the railing. Turning around, he saw two red eyes and rows of sharp teeth. He let out another yell of terror before kicking Shizuo in the face.

The beast let out an annoyed growl, but let go of Izaya to rub his face. It hurt a little, but it wasn't even enough to bruise. When he looked up again, Izaya had escaped to the second landing. With a hair-standing roar, Shizuo ran up the stairs to the second floor.

On the second floor, Izaya had nowhere to run and he could hear Shizuo's heavy footsteps running up the stairs. He quickly dashed into one of the rooms and locked the door. He looked around, this door wasn't going to last long when Shizuo realizes that he isn't in any of the other rooms.

Thankfully, he had picked the room furthest down the hall so it would be the last one Shizuo would check. There was nothing in this room to hide in or under, not a bed nor a closet. Seeing the window in the corner of the room, he only had one idea left.

In the hallway outside, Shizuo had broke down every door until he came to the last one. With a grin, he walked there slowly, enjoying the feeling of stalking cornered prey. It's strange, he felt like he could hear Izaya's heart beating wildly.

The house was silent for a few seconds before the door was destroyed, broken into pieces when Shizuo crashed through it- "What the hell are you doing?!" he yelled in shock when he saw Izaya in the room.

Izaya was clinging to the bottom of the window with his entire body hanging in the night air. He had intended to climb onto the roof and escape that way. After all, he could hop from house to house until he found one with a proper fire escape. Granted, jumping out from the second floor wouldn't have killed him, but running on a twisted ankle or a broken leg or even trying to breathe with a fractured rib wasn't the ideal situation when trying to escape an angry beast.

"S-Stay away!" Izaya yelled as Shizuo walked closer to him.

"Shit, it may only be two stories high, but you're not going to be fine if you fall from here!"

"Get away from me!" Izaya yelled again. Shizuo was standing in front of him now.

"Give me your hand-"

"No!" he shouted. The sight of the claws reaching for him scared him and he let go of the railing.

"Izaya!"

* * *

><p>Izaya woke up to a soft murmuring in the room.<p>

"You think you can bring some bandages when you come by later?" there was a pause, "I did not!" A cracking sound echoed through the room followed by heavy footsteps running down the hall.

Izaya ran his right hand through his hair and let out a groan. What happened? From the sound of birds and the direction of sunlight, it was late morning. The last thing he remembered about last night was Shizuo's claws reaching towards him-

Izaya pushed himself up from the bed and hissed in pain immediately. Gently lifting his left arm, he saw that it was wrapped in blood soaked cloth. He could guess what that snippet of conversation he heard was referring to. He must've passed out when he thought that Shizuo was about to catch him and that he was about to fall out of the window. _Tch, fear really does make people do irrational things_, he thought irritably. Hopefully Shizuo won't realize how pathetic he acted last night, Izaya would never be able to live that down.

Shizuo must've reached out to grab Izaya's arm at the last moment and with those claws, cut his arm up pretty badly. _Strange, I thought he'd rather let me die_, as he thought that, he heard the sounds of heavy footsteps running up the stairs. Startled, Izaya quickly flopped back on the bed and pretended to be asleep again.

"...Yea, I crushed the phone."

"Shut up, he's still alive."

The conversation was followed by a couple of 'okay's and 'I understand's before Shizuo ended the phone call. Seeing that Izaya was still asleep, he sat down on the floor next to the bed. He was silent for a moment before speaking up, "I should've just let you die."

Izaya twitched at that sentence. He began thinking of possible ways to escape. Of course, he probably can't make it to the door in one piece, but he might have the advantage of surprise since Shizuo thought he was asleep. Still, his options were pretty limited, if he had any options at all.

"...but, I'm not so petty that I would kill someone just because they annoyed me."

Izaya was surprised to hear that. Shizuo had been screaming various death threats and about how much he wanted to kill him since the first night they met. Why would he have a change of heart now? It was so out of place... Izaya knew that Shizuo didn't like hurting others, but he thought that he had become an exception. _Aren't I supposed to be special_, the moment he thought that, Izaya felt a sudden rage boiling from the pit of his stomach and he was tempted to jump up and scream at Shizuo to hate him all over again.

"You're so quiet and innocent asleep, it's tolerable. I can almost forget how detestable you are."

Izaya calmed down, Shizuo still hates him.

It felt strange. With his eyes closed, he could pretend that Shizuo was still human. It made him far less scary. He was still monster-like when he was human, but it made Izaya remember why he wanted to meet Shizuo in the first place. He had heard about a guy with unmatched strength and uncontrollable rage. At first, Izaya simply thought he was just a guy with anger problems, but he soon discovered just how different Shizuo was. And he had wanted the attention of _that_ Shizuo. He wanted to play with him, see what he was capable of.

His lips twitched into a smile and he opened his eyes.

"You're awake!"

Right, he was supposed to be pretending to be asleep.

"And you smiled before you did, how long were you awake?"

The smile was gone now that he was looking at a monster instead of the image of Shizuo he had in his mind. "Get away from me!" he yelled as he huddled up and scooted to the other side of the bed.

"What kind of attitude is that? I saved your life last night!"

"I'm not going to thank a wild beast like you!"

"Wild beast- I'm human!" Shizuo shouted as he reached to grab Izaya.

"Like hell I would accept a monster like you as a human!" he yelled as he kicked Shizuo in the chest. Surprisingly, it was enough to push Shizuo back a few feet. Seeing his chance, Izaya jumped off the bed while cradling his left arm and ran out of the room.

"Get back here!" Shizuo yelled as he followed Izaya down the stairs.

"Ha, freedom at last-"

"Where are you going, Izaya?" Shinra asked. Shinra and Celty walked into the house just as Izaya stepped into the living room. Immediately, he was tied and pulled down to the floor by Celty's shadows.

"Mmph!" the shadows covered his mouth and pulled him over to a corner of the room.

"Wow, Shizuo...Did you have to go and break every single piece of furniture in the house?"

"Sorry, I was trying to catch a flea," Shizuo growled as he arrived at the bottom of the steps. Izaya shot him a glare from where he was sitting.

"Ok, I'll call Kasuka and ask him to get new furniture and have it delivered here."

_And I'll fix up all the doors and broken rooms,_ Celty typed after she finished surveying the first floor of the house. She didn't even want to think about the damage on the second floor.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Shizuo asked.

Celty shook her head, _Sorry Shizuo, but I don't think you'd be able to help much._ After all, his hands were claws and his monster form was somewhat clumsy when it came to fixing things.

"You can guard the door while I fix up Izaya," Shinra said as he walked over to where Izaya was sitting.

Given something to do, Shizuo felt less guilty about the damage and happily went to sit next to the door. Celty released the shadows holding Izaya as Shinra walked up to him and crouch down to Izaya's eye level.

"Let me see," Shinra said in a commanding tone as he opened up his bag. Izaya reluctantly gave him his arm. Shinra let out a sigh when he saw the cloth and made a mental note to ask Kasuka to buy some more sheets as well. Taking a pair of scissors and a new roll of bandages out, he began rebandaging Izaya's arm correctly.

"Some best friend you are," Izaya mumbled as he stole glances at Shizuo.

"Hmph, you deserved this," Shinra responded.

"It's not really working. I'm not afraid of a protozoan like him. It only sucks that I can't enjoy anything while I'm stuck in this house-ouch! Hey!"

Shinra had crudely poured a generous amount of rubbing alcohol over Izaya's wound causing him to hiss in pain. "I can't believe that even in a situation like this, you won't put down your pride. If you keep up this obnoxious attitude, you might really piss Shizuo off to the point that he really will kill you."

"As if he could possibly kill me-ouch!"

This time, Shinra pulled the bandages tightly around the claw marks on his arm, "Just admit it, you're scared. Anyone can tell, what's the point of hiding and making it worse for yourself."

Izaya glared at the doctor, "I'm not scared." He hated the fact that Shinra was the only one who could ever see through him.

Shinra frowned, "Please, Izaya. The only one you can fool this time is yourself. I'm sure Celty and Kadota and maybe even Shizuo can tell you're scared."

Shinra finished bandaging his arm and Izaya pulled away immediately, "If that's the case, you guys really are terrible friends!"

"You know why people go to jail?"

Izaya glared at him, "I guess that is a good analogy."

"Good, I'm glad you understand," Shinra smiled as he stood up and stretched, "So you want to help us fix the house-"

"Hell no," Izaya hissed.

"Or stay in the same room as Shizuo for the day?"

"I'll help," he agreed grudgingly as he stood up.

* * *

><p>The rest of the day went smoothly if only because Shizuo and Izaya were not in the same room for very long. After Kasuka came to drop off with new furniture and equipment, Shizuo moved to his bedroom and stayed there for the rest of the day. With Celty's supernatural powers, they managed to glue the house back together fairly quickly. Izaya tried to escape a couple of times, but Celty's shadows always pulled him back before he made it out the door.<p>

Night fell and the couple left with Kasuka. The only ones who remained in the house were Shizuo and Izaya. As soon as they left, Izaya ran up the stairs and into his new room to hide. He knew the door wasn't enough to keep Shizuo away, but hopefully it wouldn't anger the beast if he didn't see Izaya. Anyways, Izaya would be able to hear him coming if he wanted to break in and he could climb out the window (this time, he will be more careful and make it to the roof).

His new room was plain and similar to Shizuo's. Kasuka didn't put any thought into buying the furniture and it was a stark contrast to the high quality lifestyle he had in his apartment.

Around seven, there was a knock on his door, "Flea, dinner's ready." When Izaya didn't answer, Shizuo knocked harder. The door was locked so the heavy knocking strained the hinges and Izaya was afraid that Shizuo would break the door again.

"I heard you!" he shouted, "I'm just not hungry!"

There was a pause before Shizuo answered, "Fine, I'll leave it in the fridge." Izaya waited until he heard Shizuo's receding footsteps before he let out a sigh of relief.

_Why's he being so nice that he'll feed me_, he wondered. He came to a quick answer, _he probably poisoned it._

It was nine when Izaya finally felt hungry enough that he would risk leaving his room. If he remembered correctly, the beast had gone back to his room. Ha! Getting to the kitchen would be easy! He was a master of stealth!

Unlocking the door, Izaya peeked out for several minutes before deeming it safe to walk outside. He made it to the kitchen without landing on any creaky steps and there was no sign of Shizuo anywhere. Of course, Shizuo was in his room, but Izaya found it odd that the entire house was so quiet. The fact that the lights were off made it even eerier. Izaya was surprised that Shizuo had become so good at hiding.

Looking into the fridge, Izaya saw a few plates of food wrapped in plastic and frowned. "Shouldn't have expected much from a single beast-man's cooking."

"If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it."

Izaya jumped and quickly turned around, slamming the fridge door closed, "When the hell did you get here? I didn't hear you or your big, clumsy, footsteps."

Shizuo let out a growl, "I'm sorry my footsteps are so big and clumsy and loud, flea."

Izaya squinted in the darkness, he couldn't see Shizuo at all. "How are you so quiet all of a sudden?" he asked. The thick coat of darkness helped eased his fears.

"Even I know how to tip toe."

"That's completely illogical!"

"Just eat your food before I eat you!" Shizuo shouted as he pounded his fist on a nearby wall. The entire house shook and Izaya felt himself shrink slightly. "You don't know how hard it is for me to put up with you right now!"

"If that's the case, just let me leave already!"

"So you can cause more trouble outside?"

Izaya let out a soft chuckle, "What? So you think you're doing society a favor? By keeping me trapped in here you can get rid of all the guilt you have for destroying property and hurting and scaring others?"

"Izaya!" Shizuo yelled as the room echoed with heavy footsteps that made its way to Izaya. Izaya felt something grip his throat tightly. "You little bastard-"

The claws closed around his throat and Izaya felt himself being picked up from the floor. Immediately, his hands went to Shizuo's claws and began trying to pry his hand off. He felt a trickle of something warm on the back of his neck as he began gasping for air, "Let... me...Haah..."

Shizuo, who realized that he was choking Izaya, quickly let him go. He opened his mouth as if to apologize, but changed his mind and turned around to walk away, "Just eat. Bandages are in the bathroom if you need them."

"Don't need you to care," Izaya mumbled as he rubbed his neck and caught his breath. If Shizuo heard, he didn't retort. Instead, he just walked upstairs noisily as if he was letting Izaya know that he was leaving.

Izaya ate by himself in silence. He didn't even bother turning on the lights. The last thing he wanted was for the world to know he was in this house. Of course, people probably couldn't actually see into the house, into this room, and spy on him, but there was an issue of pride as well. If it just so happen that someone began to question about this house, began to investigate it and realize that he was here, he would never be able to live it down.

_Hah, Izaya Orihara trapped in a beast's lair like some kind of twisted Beauty and the Beast story_, that would be a laugh. Izaya almost believed it, except he knew there would be no beautiful, shining prince at the end of the story. At best, he would just make it out alive.

* * *

><p><strong>I said the pace would pick up, but getting these two to even tolerate each other (in character-ly) was a lot harder than I thought! ...Geez, all of you Shizaya writers made it seem so easy, I've been lied to! (lol)<strong>

**I usually write the chapter titles after the chapter is written. But, gosh, I couldn't think of one for this chapter... :I Sorry, I can't come up with anything better.  
><strong>

**Thank you for reading! (:**


	6. Beauty is a Pain in the Neck

**SIX: Beauty is a Pain in the Neck**

Of course Celty would enchant all of the doors so that only Shizuo could open them. At least, that's what Izaya guessed was what happened. Even when he unlocked the door, he couldn't open it. It was like the door was glued shut. The only explanation for this was magic. Izaya didn't even know Celty was capable of performing this type of magic. He wondered if that meant the windows were also enchanted.

It was ten and Izaya had finished eating and bandaging his neck. Since Shizuo had locked himself in his room, Izaya decided to take this chance to explore the house and hopefully find a way out. Looks like there wasn't.

He sat down on the new sofa that Kasuka had bought earlier in the day. Was he going to be forced to live here for the rest of his life? Shinra had suggested this was a specially made jail for him, but certainly he wasn't given the life sentence, right? No they weren't such cruel people. Kadota worked for the law, but even he would be lenient with his friends. Especially since this wasn't _directly_ related to his job (sideways, somewhat, since even a whisper of Izaya's name meant trouble for the whole town). Celty was also a kind person. The only one who would consider it would be Shinra and even he could be easily swayed to let Izaya go.

_So...If I put their personalities into the equation, they're bound to get tired of this game by at most a year. _In fact, he could bet that he'd be out in a couple of months. That wasn't so bad. He'd miss a couple of months of action, ah, actually, never mind, that was quite a bit of torture itself! He wouldn't be able to find out what his precious humans are up to at that time! All the fun he would be missing...the thought brought a pout to his lips. His feelings were akin to that of a fan missing his favorite television show. To think he would have to spend months with a beast rather than-

Right, the beast! There was yet another person in this mess with him. Immediately, Izaya's face soured. He can't imagine that Shizuo would want to keep him here any longer than Shinra or Celty. Despite Shizuo's willingness to keep Izaya here as a prisoner for his own sort of revenge, Izaya can't imagine Shizuo would want to live with him as soon as Shinra or Celty says he can go. Even better, perhaps he can just make Shizuo want to let him go.

No, wait, that might not be a good idea. Izaya had both witnessed and experienced firsthand just how easily Shizuo lost his temper. If he angered Shizuo too much, the beast can just kill him on the spot. Heck, he nearly died three times within the past two days. He should get a medal for surviving this long.

Izaya's eyes drifted to the clock hanging above the television. Half past ten. There wasn't much to do in a quiet house like this. The walls had been repainted along with the repair they did today so there weren't any scratch marks around the house. The walls were more pleasing to look at, but they seemed...boring now. Izaya didn't even have the amusement of imagining what horrendous tantrum Shizuo had to cause them.

He giggled to himself, imagine that! Shizuo acting like a baby! Of course, he had seen Shizuo running about in anger several times when he sent gangsters and hoodlum after him, but in a tantrum! Screaming for what he wanted! Izaya burst out laughing on the sofa and it took him several minutes to stop.

"...And it's boring again," his eyes drifted over to the television. Nice, of course Kasuka knew to pick out the best model. Giant, flatscreen, plasma...at least this was up to the quality of Izaya's lifestyle back in his apartment.

It couldn't hurt to turn the television on. And after finding the remote inside one of the cabinets the television rested on, he turned the power on, muted it, and changed to the news channel. It may not be the extensive database he had in his office, but it was some connection to the information outside this house. He didn't want to turn up the volume since Shizuo appeared to enjoy silence in this house. Otherwise, why keep quiet from the rest of the neighbors? Of course, the television gave a blue glow to the whole room, but it was less obvious than turning on a light and blasting sound throughout the room.

It was the general news. They had reports of the weather, the stocks, some happenings around town... There was a glimpse of the Black Rider and they talked of leftover rumors of Ripper Night. There was an attempted robbery here, an automobile accident there... There were no juicy details, just the cold hard facts which made a radius around the event. No news anchor ever probed further.

"Tch..." Izaya could've done a much better job.

And then finally, there was a short coverage on sightings of a monster. This was nothing new to Ikebukuro, which held many urban legends. But this one was new. It wasn't a motorbike and it wasn't a Russian assassin. It was a beast with a horns and a snout, with claws, looked like a mix between a wolf and a bear-

"Why's the volume off?" Shizuo's voice drifted from behind him.

"I didn't want it to bother you."

"Oh," Shizuo responded and sat down next to Izaya. It was the nicest conversation the two of them ever had with each other. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Shizuo was human.

"That's a horrible clip."

"Yea, they caught your bad side."

"Heh, you keep believing you know my bad side."

"I don't?"

"Like I'd ever tell you."

"Tell?"

"Yea."

They were silent for a moment. Both men watched the pictures on the screen. The news broadcast about Shizuo had passed and moved on to international news. In twenty minutes, it will repeat again in a loop until new information was added.

"Why are you like that?"

"Like what?"

"Whatever you are," Izaya turned to look directly at Shizuo for the first time. Shizuo was dressed as a bartender as usual, his hair was messy and the brown roots were beginning to show. He looked a bit tired, but peaceful. It was so different from the look Izaya usually received from him, which was full of anger and hate.

"For the record, I am human."

"So then, why?"

"Curse."

"Then why are you human now?"

"Conditions of curse."

"Then-"

"Shut up!" Shizuo yelled and pounded his fist on the armrest of the sofa. A cracking sound echoed through the room. "I don't want to talk about it!"

Izaya was a little surprised that Shizuo still had this strength even in human form. He scoffed, "As expected of an uncivilized protozoan." And the conversation was over.

The sofa was smashed again and Izaya ran around the house with a smirk on his face. He just wasn't scared of Shizuo as a human. Shizuo, on the other hand, just felt angry. The fact that Izaya was _enjoying _this was pissing him off. At least he liked it when Izaya ran away like a scared mouse. Now, it was just like the nights before when Izaya tormented him.

Finally, he trapped Izaya in a corner of the kitchen, "Where next, I-za-ya-ku~n?"

"Here," Izaya responded with a smirk as he ducked down and crawled out from between Shizuo's legs.

"Fucking Flea, get back here!"

The chase ended at one when Shizuo transformed back into a beast. He nearly screeched to a stop. Izaya starred with wide eyes as Shizuo changed shape in front of him. Shizuo realized he needed to stop. It was funny, how this became a restraining force to his anger.

Immediately, Shizuo turned around and ran back up the stairs to his room, slamming the door shut. Izaya stayed in the same spot for a while, he had enjoyed the chase with Shizuo. It wasn't the same enjoyment as when he sent the hoodlums after Shizuo, those were fun. But tonight, it felt like a game of tag he had played with Shinra and Kadota as kids.

The feeling shocked him more than Shizuo's sudden transformation.

* * *

><p>The next few days passed without incident. They stayed in their own rooms and ate at different times. They saw each other once or twice during the two hour interval when Shizuo was human, but Izaya would turn around and return to his room without a word before Shizuo even caught his eye.<p>

On the fifth night, Shizuo was running out of food in the house and had to leave to go shopping when he was human again. By chance, he bumped into Celty, who was out on a job. It seemed that without Izaya round to delegate for work, her earnings had decreased significantly. Still, she had a few trusted customers that visited often to ask her to do a job.

_By the way, Izaya is alone tonight?_ She typed on her PDA.

"Yea, I mean, you enchanted the doors to make sure he can't leave."

_That's true, but... This is Izaya we're talking about._

"He's too small to bust a wall."

Celty glanced at Shizuo's grocery bags and noticed a few take out boxes of Russian sushi. She only knew one person who enjoyed them thoroughly. However, it was a surprise that Shizuo was buying some for him, _are you guys starting to get along...?_

Shizuo's face immediately scrunched up, "The bastard doesn't even consider me human."

_Then the sushi..._

"I'm going to eat it, obviously!"

Celty's shoulders moved like she was chuckling so Shizuo stood up in a huff and declared that he was leaving, "I should get back before one and store these in the fridge anyways."

The yellow helmet bobbed back and forth in a nod and Shizuo turned to leave. Just as he turned around, however, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Glancing backwards, the PDA screen was held in his face again, _I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but I've known Izaya long enough to know that being considered inhuman is like a compliment from him._ After making sure that Shizuo had read the message, Celty waved and got on her bike.

Shizuo watched her receding form disappear into the city night before beginning to walk back to his house again. "...Compliment, huh?" he mumbled.

The house was dark, as usual, when he got back. It was ten minutes before one so he hurried to put the sushi in the fridge.

There had been some truth in what Celty said to him. He did buy the sushi for Izaya, but it wasn't friendship he was looking for. The best description for the feeling would be 'acknowledgment.' Looking like a beast for months and being treated as one for nearly his entire life made Shizuo look for some sort of acknowledgment as a human. And he did find it in some people, Kasuka, Shinra, and Celty, for example.

Which makes him wonder why he wanted Izaya's acknowledgment when he had all of theirs already. He didn't even like Izaya! There was absolutely no point in it. ...Still, living with someone who thinks you're a monster isn't a pleasant feeling. He didn't need Izaya's acknowledgment as a human, but it would be nice to have.

"You're back," Izaya's voice came from behind him.

Shizuo turned in surprise. "To think you complained about me sneaking around," after a momentary pause, he added, "You should turn around. I'm going to turn back in a few minutes.

To his surprise, Izaya does turn around, "Why don't you kill me? You hate me so much and now I'm your captive! What are you waiting for? _I'm_ tired of waiting for imminent death."

Shizuo watched as his arms and legs extended and he grew taller. When the transformation was done, Izaya was still facing away from him. One heavy step after another, he approached him, "Because we're both still human."

And that was when Izaya knew he had to get out.

* * *

><p>Three weeks had passed before either occupants of the house really noticed. Izaya had strangely kept to himself and in return, Shizuo didn't say much either. To Shizuo, their relationship seemed to have gotten better. After all, at least they weren't at each other's throats or chasing each other down and breaking the house. They may not be talking to each other, but it was an improvement.<p>

Or so Shizuo thought.

They had run out of food in the house again and Shizuo was still experimenting how much meat or vegetables he had to buy for the two of them to last a week. It was as if buying three boxes of precut chicken was too little and four was too much. If he bought too much, it just meant that the food will go bad really quickly. Despite the fact that he uses a lot of strength and that he turned into a beast, Shizuo didn't eat that much. He ate what was considered average and healthy for a man his height and size. Izaya, on the other hand, was a picky eater and however much he ate depended on whether or not the dish involved his favorite food.

Tonight, Shizuo was standing at the convenience store looking at microwavable meals. He might be able to cook a few basic dishes, but in the end, he wasn't skilled in making food. Besides, he was too lazy to make a meal that was worth praise.

He remembered clearly that he decided on a boxful of spicy beef ramen and had made his purchase quickly. The clerk had even lamented over whether or not it might be too heavy for Shizuo to carry around. She nagged a few times and Shizuo nearly lost his temper. She finally backed down and he left the store.

That was when he first noticed it.

It was just past midnight and Shizuo wasn't sure how long they've been around, but he was sure they were tailing him. Scattered around him in different corners of the street were seven men looking at him. Some were dressed like punks with baseball caps pulled down over their faces while others wore suits and looked as though they were returning home from a late shift.

Shizuo grit his teeth. What now? He sent hoodlums after him again?! _Oh wait..._ he paused, realizing that there was a flaw in his logic, _Izaya was still in his house._ He supposed Izaya could've gotten a phone and called some guys up to fight with Shizuo, but what good would that do? It's not like they can help him out of the house. They wouldn't even be able to get the door open due to Celty's magic! And besides, Izaya wouldn't plan something he couldn't watch himself.

He let out an irritated sigh. It didn't look like they were ready to attack him, all they did was watch him out of the corner of their eyes. Deciding that he might as well confront them, Shizuo began walking towards the park. He knew of a deserted area where few people would happen to spot them fighting while on a midnight stroll.

At first, he thought that they didn't move and perhaps they weren't following him after all. Maybe he was just paranoid. It was only at the end of the block that they began to move. _They're being really cautious_, Shizuo realized. The street punks Izaya sent before had always followed the moment Shizuo made a move, these guys had more of an air of professionalism to them. They still weren't that great since Shizuo noticed them.

When he arrived at the secluded area of the park, he placed the box of noodles and other groceries he was holding on a bench and stepped forward. As he waited, he lit a cigarette to calm himself. He wasn't afraid of them, but he was feeling particularly annoyed. However, they didn't attack. Shizuo remembered the guys that Izaya would send would attack the second Shizuo was walked out of a populated area and was alone. Shizuo could sense that these guys were nearby. Some of them even walked out of the groves of trees and sat the other park benches. These guys weren't planning on attacking.

And that. Pissed. Him. Off.

"Arrrrrghhh!" Shizuo crushed the snapped cigarette under his foot and lunged at the first guy, picking him up and throwing him several feet away onto another guy. Seeing this, all the men following him immediately looked up from whatever they were pretending to do and took out knives and other weapons to attack him.

One of them thrust a knife out at him, but Shizuo easily dodged and caught the blade in his hand and promptly crushed it into pieces. The man holding the blade withdrew his arm to find only a plastic handle. He glanced at it once before Shizuo reached out and flung him to the other side of the park.

At this point, all of the men were beginning to look uncertain, but strangely, not running away. Despite how useless it was, they continued to try to attack him. _What's wrong with these guys_, Shizuo thought. He had already sent nearly each of them flying several times already. It wasn't as though they came back unharmed so they weren't some type of superhuman soldiers. They all just simply got up with whatever fractured bones they have and ran in for another attack.

It was like they were scared of something other than Shizuo- like they're scared of failing to attack Shizuo.

Just as he realized that, a resounding chime from the center of the park echoed throughout the trees. "Shit, it's one o'clock already?" Shizuo panicked, looks like he'll have to run back to his house in beast form tonight.

As he transformed, the men around him finally couldn't take it anymore. Most of them were down for the count sniveling on the floor, but still reaching out for weapons, but the moment they saw Shizuo turn into a monster, any fear of whatever else was there that night disappeared and they began scrambling to get away.

After all of the punks ran away, Shizuo shook his head. He didn't think there would ever come a time where he was _glad_ he could transform, but there was a first for everything. Picking up the groceries from the bench, he began thinking of the most obscure route to get home.

* * *

><p>"I-za-ya-kun!" he yelled as soon as he kicked the door open. The door flew right off its hinges, he'll have to inform Celty to come fix it tomorrow. Tossing the groceries on the floor, he decided that he needed to question the other man about tonight's events just in case.<p>

"When the hell did I allow you to call me by first name basis?" the usual annoying voice grumbled from the top of the stairs.

"Did you call up some fucking cronies to fight me again?" Shizuo yelled as he stomped towards the stairs. Instinctively, Izaya backed away towards his room.

"Stay away, Protozoan! You gave my phone to Celty the other day, remember?"

"You could've gotten your hands on a new one."

"Your stupidity astounds me, Shizu-chan!" Shizuo let out a growl at Izaya's words and Izaya quickly added an explanation before he was chewed up and spit out, "I can't leave and the only other phone in the house is your cell phone. Which. I. Don't. Have." He said the last few words with a slight taunt in his voice, which made Shizuo want to run up the stairs and choke the man, but he refrained from doing so-because Izaya was right. There were no other phones in the house.

And there was a more important issue here tonight.

"Did...something happen?" Izaya asked.

"Why, are you concerned?"

In the dark, Shizuo could just make out a stunned expression on Izaya's face and then a light blush following it, "Yea, about the rest of the city! I hate this so much! I can't find out any information while being stuck here! Do you know how bad it feels? To be stuck in an informationless place while the rest of the world moves on?"

Izaya prattled on and Shizuo felt like he was listening to a teenager complain about missing out on news about the latest celebrity break up.

"And I hate you, Shizu-chan, for putting me in this situation. Good night, I can't stand to see your ugly face any more!" and with a huff, Izaya stomped into his room and slammed the door.

Despite Izaya's claims about Shizuo being stupid, he mumbled with a mildly concerned look, "...That was rather transparent."

* * *

><p><strong>I finished writing this on the night after my first final. fff- why am I not studying for the remaining two? Oh well, it was worth it to finish this. <strong>

**Slowly, but it's happening. This is going to be a love story.**

**(Fun fact: As of the last chapter, this is my second longest fic in terms of chapters. And with chapter, the second longest by word count.)**


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